Motorists will no longer be sent to jail on the mere accusation of a machine in Maricopa County, Arizona. County Attorney Andrew Thomas yesterday announced that he will dismiss all criminal speeding and reckless driving cases brought to him when the only evidence presented is a photo radar ticket. Thomas condemned the process that imposes jail time on those accused of driving 20 MPH over the speed limit without any human witness to the alleged crime.
“The bottom line is, the way the law is written and the way our Constitution is written, to bring criminal prosecutions based on photo radar evidence only is not something our office can do, or frankly should do, given the Constitutional mandates,” Thomas said.
In 2008 the legislature specifically eliminated license points from tickets issued under the statewide freeway ticketing program (view law). Lawmakers understood that motorists would be more likely to pay tickets without challenge if the only penalty was a $181 monetary fine that did not boost insurance rates or threaten a license suspension. This revised legislative language prohibits criminal prosecution.
“Notwithstanding any other law, if a person is found responsible for a civil traffic violation or a notice of violation pursuant to a citation issued pursuant to this section, the department of transportation shall not consider the violation for the purpose of determining whether the person’s driver license should be suspended or revoked,” Arizona Code Section 41-1722 states. “A court shall not transmit abstracts of records of these violations to the department of transportation.”
[Under state law, criminal speeding is a class three misdemeanor that carries license points and the possibility of license suspension, plus thirty days in jail and a $500 fine.]
Thomas’ decision is a slap in the face to the state Department of Public Safety (DPS) which has used high-profile photo ticket arrests as a public relations tool. In August, for example, a young motorist was led in handcuffs out of the Sky Harbor International Airport with a DPS camera recording the event for distribution to local media. Last week, DPS issued another press release citing similar arrests as a justification for the automated ticketing program.
“Ongoing apprehensions of major violators are further evidence enforcement works,” the press release stated. “DPS recently arrested three suspects for reckless driving and criminal speeding. Video and photos of the suspects are available on request.”
Thomas says he became personally involved after looking more closely at what the state police was asking him to do.
“DPS keeps pressing us on this,” Thomas said. “The cases we are receiving underscore why we have these constitutional rules. Some of the cases that were brought to my attention — there was one case in which the defendant was male but the driver in the photo appeared to be female. In another one the age didn’t match, and a much older woman, someone in her seventies, was the defendant but it appeared that someone else was driving the vehicle.”
Thomas said the proper way to prosecute the crime is to have a live police officer witness the offense, identify the individual responsible and testify to these facts in court.
“You have to have a witness,” Thomas said. “It isn’t something you can just ignore…. The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a broad interpretation of the rights of defendants under the Confrontation Clause… Arizona courts have interpreted this clause as giving defendants the right to question and cross-examine witnesses. There is no opportunity to question or cross-examine a camera.”
Thomas did not offer an opinion on the legality of the civil photo radar citations because his office does not handle them. In January, Maricopa County Justice Court Judge John C. Keegan declared the civil speed camera tickets unconstitutional (view decision). The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is one of fourteen in the state, although many of the other jurisdictions look to Maricopa County for guidance.
If the prisoners were smart, they would sue the state claiming being forced to wear pink clothing is cruel and unusual because it has changed their sexual orientation.
Here in NY, same thing. There is an old case with a photo-system that used pneumatic hoses, sort of like gas stations used to have.
The Judge tossed it as there was “no service of process” on the alleged defendant. The owner cannot be assumed to be the driver and the owner can’t be forced to reveal who it might be. Since most places in the US have the possibility (however remote) of a Jail sentence for speeding this is taken seriously.
In Europe and Australia, as far as I know, they can.
The result is that the majority of scamera systems use a “parking ticket” model, so that most folks don’t fight it because of no points, and you CAN hold the owner liable for the fine. This also tosses the ticket AWAY from criminal court, professional prosecution, and “beyond a reasonable doubt” protections. You end up before the City’s Department of Finance, who can’t put you in jail….but conversely does not have to provide all those constitutional protections a Court is set up to provide, and can use a lower standard of proof “clear and convincing”.
Proper Traffic Engineering will solve most “problems” that cameras seek to solve. No Camera ever stopped a DWI, or caught a fugitive-it is important to “arrest” the behavior. Are we saying this offense is not worth stopping you while you do it but it is worth sending a fine ?
nice to read about people in government abiding by the law.
now, about those camera used for revenue generation…
Men convicted of drunken driving will don bright pink shirts and perform burials of people who died of alcohol abuse as part of a new chain gang in Phoenix.
If I would have lost a family member, and it would have been buried by a bunch of people in pink shirts and striped pants, I’d sue the uniformed pants off whoever initiated that clown act.
I lived and worked in the U.S.A. for 25 years, and I liked it. But there are recent developments that fall right back into the middle ages. One is torture. The other is the re-emergence of the pillory.
Men convicted of drunken driving will don bright pink shirts and perform burials of people who died of alcohol abuse as part of a new chain gang in Phoenix.
In NY and CT, Mothers against drunk driving has a program for DWI offenders called the “Victim Impact Panel”. The offenders are ordered to go there by a Court as a condition of sentence. This is in addition to a Government run Drinking Driver Program.
MADD has lobbied so well that they now get a $75 per person head tax on every offender.
While no one agrees with DWI, frustration on the parts of some MADD and others is why this sort of thing happens.
the owner can’t be forced to reveal who it might be
In Oz, the owner gets the ticket, unless he/she can get someone else to own up to the offense. This is true even if the driver is clearly not the owner.
The only circumstances that I know where this is not done is when you can prove your car was stolen at the time.
The basis for this that they assume you know who is driving the vehicle you own.
In Germany, they provide an amazingly clear picture of the driver. They even blank out the person in the passenger seat – just in case you’ve been having an illicit dalliance & been speeding. dalliances are ok.
It’s a good start, but these cameras are here to stay for a while. there’s talk about the 2010 or 2011 election blasting them for good. we’ll see. in the meantime i’m glad i got this special GPS device called GPS Angel that knows where all the cameras are and beeps when I’m near one.
Thomas is absolutely right on target. Good for him for standing up against the state’s DPS and laying out the argument for other counties who may feel inclined to pay attention to the Constitution.
“…or frankly should do, given the Constitutional mandates,”
How about, you shouldn’t do it (prosecute people without a witness to a crime) because it is flat out wrong?
Re: The burials. They are not burying victims of DUI accidents, they are burying indigent people that died of alcohol poisoning.